Ken Morrison - Business Career

Business Career

By 1956 he was the Chairman and Managing Director of a small group of shops, the embryo of what was to become a formidable retail presence, a household name throughout the UK and the largest public company headquartered in Yorkshire.

Whilst the family business was named after his father, Morrisons' head office "Hilmore House" is named after his mother. The original Hilmore House was located in Thornton Road, but moved to larger premises at Gain Lane as a result of the takeover of Safeway.

Just after the takeover of Safeway (completed in 2004), Morrison went from a respected industry figure to a target for disgruntled investors furious at the mishandling of the transaction. In 2001 Morrison described Safeway as an "indigestible meal" for his supermarket group.

Following the Safeway takeover the Morrison group issued five profit warnings, due to integration problems. Morrisons later recovered its financial performance and in September 2006, it announced a £134.2m half year pre-tax profit for the 25 weeks to 23 July 2006. This was a company record, and convinced City commentators that Morrisons had recovered.

As a result, Morrison's reputation is being restored, especially since the "Optimisation Plan" – set out to restore profits – enabled gross profit margins to increase from 0.9% in March 2006, to 2.8% in July 2006. The target was to increase margins by 0.9% by 2009, which is currently being delivered ahead of plan.

Analysts have speculated that the potential market share of the newly enlarged Morrisons has not been realised due to defection of customers from the former Safeway stores to rivals such as Sainsbury's. However, other factors include the mass 254 store divestment programme, which was concluded in 2007, after the 220 Safeway store conversion programme concluded in November 2005.

Morrison was the longest serving chairman of a top 100 public company in the UK. He can still be seen on the shop floor in the familiar short-sleeved shirt, ready for comments from customers.

In June 2006, Ken Morrison announced that he would relinquish executive control of the company, which came into effect from 4 September, making way for the appointment of Dutchman Marc Bolland as chief executive. He announced that it was his current intention to stand down as the chairman and director of the company in January 2008, and take the honorary post of Life President. He eventually stood down on 13 March 2008.

His three eldest children have all worked for the business. His son, also named William, held a position within the Group's Marketing function but left the Company soon after his father stepped down. His daughter Eleanor held the position of Poultry Buyer. His nephew Chris Blundell recently stepped down as one of the directors.